Darkness Falls
by Lady Lamora
Summary: When Cloud defeated Sephiroth at the Northern Cave, what he didn't realise was that their battle was far from over.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: That Cloud and Sephiroth are not mine is something that I despair of on a daily basis. In other words, Final Fantasy VII (c) and its characters are the property of Square Enix, they are not mine, and I am making no money whatsoever from this work of fan fiction.

A/N: This is a fanfiction net specific edit of the story I originally posted on adultfanfiction net last year under the author's name 'TemenNiGru'; as such, the two versions are slightly different. The original version of the story carries an NC-17 rating, where this edit is lower, working up to R by its completion.

Hi all, and a very warm welcome to "Darkness Falls." This story is a Cloud/Seph pairing, so if you don't like, don't read! If you have the time to leave it, feedback will be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy the story.

Darkness Falls

Part 1

To begin with, there was brilliant white light, so strong that Cloud instinctively closed his eyes against it. Then, he seemed to fall into darkness so thick and crushing that he was momentarily paralysed. Fragments of speech and scattered images played through his mind even in the absence of his physical awareness.

_It's not over yet! This isn't the end yet!_

He simply refused to give up. Even as his nemesis had floated before him, suspended by some dark and unknown power in the air, the light of Holy portrayed him in stark relief against the black depths of the Northern Cave. He was but one man.

_To the settling of everything!_

Cloud remembered his cry of defiance, of strength, as he faced Sephiroth for the last time; it still seemed to ring in his ears. Landing painfully after executing the omnislash, his final limit break, his body slumped against the cave floor. He closed his eyes and waited for the world to stop its wild spinning, the chill of the rock against his cheek helping, gradually, to bring him back to himself.

Slowly, he pushed himself up into a crouch, blue eyes hesitantly searching the scene before him for some sign, for any mark or presence to explain what had just happened – but there was nothing; nothing save the jagged walls of the cave that stretched upwards, perhaps meeting the light at some point far beyond his perception.

He had done it. Sephiroth was gone.

The masamune, too, seemed to have disappeared in the explosion of white light that had consumed its owner's body. He should have felt elated – in his own words, everything had been settled, resolved; but all that Cloud could conceive of was a deep and dark nothingness, a void in his soul to rival that of the cave itself. Whilst killing was a necessity for any SOLDIER, Cloud had never found a way to ease his conscience after the event. Monsters were one thing, but Sephiroth...  
Sephiroth had been both a monster and a man, he mused, powerful and almost godlike before the demon from the skies had enslaved, and then consumed his mind and body.

Jenova.

The name left a bitter taste in his mouth as he pushed himself to his feet, though his exhausted frame protested at the movement and he swayed briefly on the spot. Running a hand through his hair, Cloud was shocked, when he brought it back in front of his face, to see it trembling still. He shook it fiercely, making a fist as it fell back to his side, nails digging into the skin far enough to draw blood.

I killed the enemy. I saved the planet. So why does it feel so...wrong?

He bowed his head, eyes closing once more under an onslaught of emotion that he couldn't begin to understand.

"I'm sorry"

It was a faint whisper, one quickly lost in the heavy silence of the Northern Cave.

But not before someone had heard it.

There was only the slightest change in the current of cold air around him, but Cloud felt it anyway and, heart pounding, he jerked his body to the right and swung the reassuring weight of his sword into a defensive stance. For a few moments, he heard nothing but his own shallow breaths, saw nothing but their vapour, condensed in the thick air in front of him. There was another shift in current to his left, but as he turned this time, Cloud felt his anger rising, a reassuring feeling that smothered the fear which had begun to consume him.

"Who's there?" He demanded; his front of anger and control betrayed by the slight, yet discernible, tremble in his voice. As a low, cruel laugh came to his ears his blood ran cold, and the last of his confidence disappeared into the heavy darkness.

"I killed you."

The statement hung between them for a moment without a response, though Cloud was still unable to see his tormentor.

"I am a God. You cannot kill me!"

Suddenly aware of a presence behind him, Cloud turned, but only a second later – and a second too late - did he realise his mistake. The blunt edge of the masamune caught him in the back of the head, with the full power of its owner behind it, and his world exploded into bright, hot pain before it collapsed again into nothingness.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: That Cloud and Sephiroth are not mine is something that I despair of on a daily basis. In other words, Final Fantasy VII (c) and its characters are the property of Square Enix, they are not mine, and I am making no money whatsoever from this work of fan fiction.

A/N: This story is/will be a Cloud/Seph pairing, so if you don't see it, don't read it! If you have the time to leave it, feedback will be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy the story.

Darkness Falls

Part 2

Defeated by the _traitor_?

For one brief, terrible moment, I thought that he had actually done it.

Shame and humiliation flooded me as I felt myself pulled into darkness; Jenova's scream of anguish echoed my own as the connection between our minds was torn. Nevertheless, She refused to let go of me, even in the moment of my supposed 'death' at the hand of Cloud Strife.

I felt a cold grip on my bicep, the sharp sting of nails biting into the flesh.

"Pathetic!" She hissed, seething with anger.

When I failed to respond, the grip on my arm tightened to the point of pain, and an icy-cold numbness spread from there, crawling through my body as Her terrible power drew me back from the edge of oblivion.

For a long time I had no conception of my body, of its place within this world. I was utterly lost, a child without his Mother, the voice that had guided me for so long.

"We will have our revenge," She soothed, as I instinctively turned towards her voice. I felt a cold, cold hand on my forehead just seconds before a colder set of lips descended onto my own. I realised that, until this point, I had never actually seen her with my eyes open, my mind free of her dark seduction.

Hers was a terrible beauty, so bright that it hurt my eyes to look; and yet I could not tear them away. The long hair so like my own flowed smoothly in the air behind her, almost giving an impression of peace; yet the dichotomy of deathly pale skin and blood-red lips impressed upon me again the horror of what she truly was, and the horror that I had become in turn.

"M...Mother?"

My voice was quiet, feeble in the thick air and I hated it. She hated it too.

"We will have our revenge," she repeated, stroking a hand through my hair. The gentle, soothing touch soon turned to a heavy pressure, however, and the oh-too-familiar agony of our joining erupted in my head, a pain that quickly spread through my body, both hot and cold at the same time.

When the tremors of my body had subsided, and my howl of pain had diffused into the dark, I found that I was strong again, my body once again sculpted to perfection, utterly free of the scars that had told of my defeat mere moments ago.

"...Revenge..."

She was quiet again now, presumably wearied from her efforts, a reassuring murmur in the back of my mind. Yes. Revenge. My thoughts turned again to the young SOLDIER, no, the pretender, he who had dared to try and defeat me – my lip curled into a sneer.

"Cloud Strife."

My voice was a low, dangerous purr in the darkness. I could feel her contentment, her excitement at the approaching confrontation and my rising anger.

"Take me back" I commanded, fully recovered now, once more in utter assurance of my majesty, my rightful place beside Her. She was eager to oblige me. I felt a stab of excitement, of anticipation in my belly as the masamune formed itself in my hand, the cruel blade glinting, thirsting for blood.

His blood.

I enjoyed watching him for a while; it only fed my arrogance and superiority to see him unable to stand, to watch him as he trembled, so close I could reach out and touch him. I felt Jenova bristle in my mind at the very suggestion, felt a stabbing pain behind my eyes that clearly constituted a warning. Captivated nonetheless, I watched as he bowed his head, and his shoulders slumped under the weight of a guilt that was entirely of his own making.

"I'm sorry," was all he said, so softly that I almost missed it.

A sudden heat flared behind my eyes, a smile _he_ would call cruel pulling at my lips. I moved swiftly, silently, melting into the darkness as he turned towards me, dragging out my delightful cat-and-mouse game for a little longer.

"Who's there?" He demanded, with a strength that didn't quite reach his eyes.

I laughed, then, and disappeared when he swung around to find its source. He knew, then. I was sure of it. I caught the momentary flash of disbelief on his young face before it hardened into a frown.

"I killed you."

I smirked. Oh, such arrogance.

Jenova positively purred as my hand tightened on masamune, intent on teaching that boy the real meaning of power. Suddenly, I was behind him, so close that I could touch the golden spikes of his hair, so close that I could smell him.

"I am a God. You cannot kill me!"

He jumped and spun around, but I was too fast for him. I raised my arm and brought the blunt edge of the masamune down on his head with a heavy smack, watching with no small amount of satisfaction as he crumpled to the cave floor.

"...Revenge..."

Jenova was impatient; I, however, was just warming up. I knelt next to Cloud's unconscious body and pushed him so that he rolled onto his back, head lolling to the side. Bright red blood matted his hair and trickled down the side of his face, and I mused absently on the strength of the blow.

"What am I going to do with you?" I pondered aloud, my voice the only sound in the cave excepting Cloud's shallow breaths, and Jenova's hysterical laughter in the depths of my mind.

TBC


End file.
